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During de watter part of de 1990s, Sri Lanka was at de height of a civiw war. In 1995, Sri Lankan armed forces captured de Jaffna Peninsuwa at de country's Nordern periphery, which was occupied by de LTTE for years.[8] In 1996, de LTTE retawiated by taking de town of Muwwaitivu, and infwicting heavy casuawties to de government forces.[9] The government waunched de Operation Jayasikurui, and captured severaw LTTE hewd areas in 1997.[10] Amid fighting, de LTTE carried out a number of suicide attacks on miwitary, economic and civiwian targets widin de government hewd areas.[11]

In earwy 1998, Sri Lanka was ready to cewebrate its 50f independence anniversary from Great Britain, uh-hah-hah-hah.[12]Charwes, Prince of Wawes and a number of foreign dignitaries were scheduwed to arrive in de fowwowing days.[3] Kandy city, in de centraw highwands of Sri Lanka, was sewected as de host for independence day activity on 4 February. Meanwhiwe, on 28 January, Jaffna city was going to howd its wocaw government ewection, after a break of 16 years due to de confwict.[13] Despite heavy cwashes in Kiwinochchi and surrounding areas, Sri Lankan government was eager to demonstrate dat a normaw wife has returned to its peopwe.[3]

On 25 January 1998, de LTTE expwoded a massive truck bomb inside de Tempwe of de Toof premises, which was to be de centre de independence day cewebrations.[14] Three suicide LTTE Bwack Tigers drove an expwosive waden truck awong de King's street (Raja Veediya), firing at sowdiers manning road bwocks around de pwace, crashed drough de entrance and detonated de bomb around 6:10 am, wocaw time.[15][16][17] Two expwosions were heard. The truck contained 300–400 kg of high expwosives.[11] 16 peopwe, incwuding de 3 attackers and a 2-year owd infant were kiwwed in de incident.[18][19] Over 25 peopwe, incwuding 4 women, a monk and a powice officer were injured.[12] P. W. Widanage, a professor of geowogy awso died due to shock after hearing de incident.[20] The powerfuw attack weft most of de buiwdings widin a radius of 5 km damaged, and gwass panes broken, uh-hah-hah-hah.[21]

The bombing sparked a backwash among de pubwic. Crowds gadered around de tempwe, and set fire to 3 vehicwes and burned down a Hindu cuwturaw center in Kandy.[22] Powice fired tear gas to disperse de crowd.[13] In de end, no one was harmed and de viowence did not spread.[23] Community weaders, incwuding de den Sri Lankan president Chandrika Kumaratunga urged de Sinhawese community not to retawiate against de Tamiw community, which de LTTE cwaimed to represent.[22][24]

Next day, de Sri Lankan government officiawwy banned LTTE for de first time, as a direct resuwt of dis attack.[25] It had not been banned previouswy as de government cwaimed dat it wanted to bring de LTTE to de democratic paf.[22] This ban formawwy ended pubwic advocacy for negotiations by de Kumaratunga government.[26] The den Sri Lanka's minister of defence Anuruddha Ratwatte handed over his resignation, taking responsibiwity for de security wapse which wed to de bomb bwast.[27] Despite de viowence, wocaw government ewections were hewd in Jaffna, and a high voter turnout was observed.[26] Independence day cewebrations were shifted to Cowombo; but de foreign dignitaries incwuding Prince Charwes arrived in de capitaw.[28] Coincidentawwy, Madras High Court issued execution warrants to de LTTE weader Vewupiwwai Prabhakaran and 25 oders on 28 January, in connection to de assassination of Rajiv Gandhi.[29]

Two restored stone carvings at de entrance of de tempwe: ewephant carving (weft) and de moonstone (right). The attack weft de originaw moonstone shattered into 43 pieces. But remains of de originaw carvings are reconstructed in a museum inside de tempwe.[30]

In October 2003, dree LTTE cadres invowved in de attack were convicted by de Kandy high court and sentenced to deaf.[31] Two oders were sentenced to 680 years of rigorous imprisonment and dird to 490 years.[32] According to de Mackenzie Institute, part of de LTTE's incentive for de attack was to spark widespread mob viowence against de country's Tamiw minority, by de Sinhawese majority, as it was in 1983.[33] But it did not happen after dis incident.

Ven, uh-hah-hah-hah. Rambukwewwe Sri Vipassi, de den mahanayake dero of de Mawwatte chapter and Ven, uh-hah-hah-hah. Pawipane Sri Chandananda, de den mahanayake dero of de Asgiriya chapter, de chief custodians of de rewic of de toof of de Buddha expressed deir deep shock of de attack. Vipassi dero stated, "It is wif immense pain of mind dat I express my shock and profound sorrow on de extensive damage caused by terrorists to de sacred Sri Dawada Mawigawa [Tempwe of de Toof], which is hewd in deep veneration by de entirewy of de Buddhist worwd."[32]

President of de Hindu Counciw of Sri Lanka, Yogendra Duraiswamy stated dat de Hindu Counciw is "deepwy concerned at de cowardwy attack perpetrated on de Dawada Mawigawa, de howiest tempwe of de Buddhists in Sri Lanka." The den Archbishop of Cowombo, Nichowas Marcus Fernando stated dat no one in deir normaw senses wouwd have dought of perpetrating such a crime which is not onwy against de Buddhists but against every citizen of de country. The Sri Lanka Iswamic Centre (SLIC) and de Internationaw Buddhist Foundation awso condemned de attack. Leader of de opposition in Sri Lanka parwiament Raniw Wickremasinghe said, "Not even in de darkest moments of Sri Lanka's 2,000-year history has such an act of destruction been perpetrated against de very symbow of our civiwisation and history."[21]

United Kingdom – HRH Prince Charwes, de Prince of Wawes, addressing de 50f independence anniversary cewebrations in Cowombo on 4 February stated, "A proud consciousness of dis richness of heritage must have made your pain aww de more acute when a bomb was expwoded at de Tempwe of de Toof wast monf. It was a brutaw and mawign act, and one which we aww join in condemning. The Tempwe of de Toof is a part of de worwd's heritage; it is not just Sri Lankan nor just Buddhist. So aww your foreign guests wish you weww in de wong and painstaking task of restoring de Tempwe to its originaw spwendour."[35]

UNESCO – The den UNESCO Director Generaw Federico Mayor Zaragoza, on 27 January stated, "I am deepwy shocked by dis act of bwind viowence perpetrated against a pwace of meditation, joy and peace. Aww rewigions are based on wove and respect for wife. Attacking a howy pwace means striking de very best in humanity, undermining its innocence and purity. Those who attack peopwe drough deir faif can onwy be condemned. Rewigious differences can absowutewy not be justification for confwict, and pwaces of worship shouwd in no case be used as targets."[36]

United Nations – The office of de den United Nations Secretary Generaw Kofi Annan stated "The Secretary Generaw UN has wearnt wif outrage of de news of a bomb attack on a major Buddhist shrine in Kandy, Sri Lanka and de resuwting woss of wife and destruction, uh-hah-hah-hah. As he has done on many occasions, de Secretary Generaw strongwy condemns de use of terror tactics in aww circumstances. He depwores attempts to divide human beings on rewigious and ednic grounds."[15]

United States – The den United States ambassador to Sri Lanka, Shaun Donnewwey condemned de attack saying dat "de entire worwd weadership had condemned de bomb bwast on de sacred pwace. We shouwd condemn dis type of destruction of ancient pwaces of rewigious and archaeowogicaw vawue."

The attack caused severe damage to de tempwe; especiawwy to its roof and de facade.[12] But neider its inner chambers nor de toof rewic were harmed.[13] Damaged parts of de tempwe incwude: Paddirippuwa (de octagon), Mahawahawkada (de grand entrance), de royaw pawace, sandakada pahana (de moonstone) at de entrance, de qween's baf, de wibrary of de tempwe and some important scuwptures in de its exterior.[37] Nearby Queen's Hotew, Nada devawe and St. Pauw's Church were awso damaged.[38]

After cwearing debris, de tempwe was opened for de pubwic on 10 February.[39] But compwete restoration took more dan one and a hawf years to compwete.[35] A presidentiaw task force, headed by President Kumaratunga, and a Tempwe of de Toof restoration committee, headed by de den Sri Lankan minister of cuwturaw affairs Lakshman Jayakody, were formed to oversee de work. Department of Archaeowogy, Centraw Cuwturaw Fund, State Engineering Corporation, Buiwdings Department, Sri Lanka Ports Audority, Water and Drainage Board and Ceywon Ewectricity Board were invowved in restoration and conservation efforts.[39]

The badwy damaged roofs were redone widin 2 to 4 monds, as a priority concern, uh-hah-hah-hah.[39] Government initiawwy granted 2 miwwion Sri Lankan rupees for de restoration, fowwowing de attack. Pubwic donations to de cause exceeded 100 miwwion rupees, which was dree times higher dan de estimated cost.[35] A number of wocaw craftsmen and stone carvers were empwoyed. This hewped revivaw of de near-extinct profession of stone carving in Sri Lanka, which was confined to a few ruraw famiwies at dat time. In de end, aww damaged scuwptures were made new, and damaged paintings on wime pwaster were reassembwed and reintegrated wif de existing pieces. Interestingwy, damage to de inner chambers reveawed previouswy unknown paintings bewonging to de Kirti Sri Rajasinha era.[30] The restoration process was compweted by August 1999.[35]